Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free
trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select
from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Major
General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, CB, KCMG, MVO (5 January 1849
30 January 1919) was a distinguished soldier and famous member of
the North-West Mounted Police. Born in Medonte Township, Upper
Canada, the son of Elmes and Anne Steele, Sam Steele received his
education at the family home, Purbrooke, and later at the Royal
Military School. His father had died when thirteen, leaving him
orphaned. Samuel Steele's family had a strong military tradition,
and in 1866 he joined the military during the Fenian Raids. Steele
also participated in the Red River Expedition in 1870 to fight the
Red River Rebellion of Louis Riel. Much to his disappointment, he
arrived after the Mtis had surrendered. The following year he
joined the Permanent Force artillery, Canada's first regular army
unit. Steele had long been fascinated by the West, devouring the
works of James Fenimore Cooper in his youth. He was especially
interested in the First Nations, and spent his time in the West
learning from them and the Mtis. However, he was assigned to Fort
Henry in Kingston, Ontario, for the next few years, as an
instructor at the Artillery School. In 1874, Steele was initiated
as a Freemason in the Lisgar Lodge No. 2, in Selkirk, Manitoba. In
1873, Steele was the third officer sworn in to the newly formed
North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), entering as a staff constable. He
was one of the officers to lead the new recruits of the NWMP on the
1874 March West, when he returned to Fort Garry, present-day
Winnipeg, Manitoba. To him fell the rank of staff sergeant major
and the responsibilityas an accomplished horseman and man-at-armsof
drilling the new recruits. In 1878, Steele was given his own
command at Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. In 1877, he was assigned
to meet wi... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=296353